Vacationland

Restaurant in Portland. 

Justin and I decided to celebrate our 1st anniversary vacation-style. We went back and forth between Redwood National Forest on the coast of California, or Portland. We aren't really sure what drew us both toward Portland, but it ultimately won. Maybe it's that we both randomly said it seemed cool to live in Portland several months ago. Maybe it's that to get to the coastal redwoods it was a 14 hour drive and Portland was only about 10 or 11. Either way, Portland won our vote and we booked a cute little one bedroom apartment off airbnb.com. The ride there was long but very fun, and we couldn't wait to get there. Driving into Portland is really neat. The first several hours are just flat and open land, but then you drop into the Columbia River Gorge and you're in a lush green forest. Everywhere we looked it seemed like ivy, fern, moss, flowers and other greenery were spewing out with reckless abandon. We explored the city, ate some great food, went to a massive bookstore (one of our favorite pastimes), and just had a great trip.

I LOVED IT.

Here are pictures of one of my favorite places that we went. This is Multnomah Falls, just outside Portland.  This place isn't done any justice by the photos. It was a beautiful 60-70 degrees, there was mist in the air from the falls, and every plant was a very vivid green. We also were able to take a short hike through the area nearby and enjoy the cool, crisp air the mountains provided. Justin isn't in a lot of the pictures because he is a typical guy and hates getting his picture taken.

The next post, which you'll see in a day or two, is of the Portland Japanese Garden in Forest Park in the middle of the city, my other favorite place we went. It was rainy that day, but it provided a really nice overcast, peaceful feel in the garden. I just didn't want to overwhelm you all with photos, so check back on Saturday and you should be able to see those ones too.